1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a sealing ring made of a rubber-elastic material to provide a media-tight connection between
a spigot of a corrugated pipe
having two adjacent corrugated sections having
a facing flange,
a foot section connecting said flanges in transition sections; and
defining between each other an annular groove for receiving said sealing ring, and
a pipe socket
having a smooth, essentially cylindrical inside wall,
which pipe socket is capable of being pushed in a pushing direction onto said spigot,
wherein said sealing ring is formed mirror-symmetrically and has
a basic body
having an inner bead bearing against said foot section,
having side areas facing said flanges,
having an annular seal formed on the outer section of each side area and projecting laterally towards said flange, and
having an outer sealing bead for bearing against said inside wall of said pipe socket
2. Background Art
A sealing ring of the generic type known from EP 0 012 166 B 1 has an inner bead bearing against the foot section and a laterally projecting annular seal on each side, formed as an annular collar fitting close to the transition region between the flange and the peripheral section. It further has an outwardly projecting sealing bead formed as an annular bead which bears against the inside wall of the socket. Regarding over-wide annular grooves, the extension of which in a longitudinal direction of the pipe exceeds by far their depth, it is further known to duplicate the sealing ring wherein two sealing rings of a similar shape are connected with each other at a central section. In case of these known sealing rings, the sealing function is almost completely accomplished by the compression of the sealing ring, i.e. by, so to speak, a controlled squeezing of the sealing ring. xe2x80x9cControlledxe2x80x9d squeezing means that the sealing and reaction force is achieved between the sealing ring and the associated pipe or socket sections without exposing the weaker sections, such as the flanges, to extreme stress.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,183 to use a sealing ring for connecting the spigot of a corrugated pipe with an essentially smooth-walled socket, said sealing ring filling the annular groove between two adjacent corrugation sections and having an external sealing lip projecting laterally and outwardly and engaging an appropriate recess in the socket just in the manner of a barb. In this case, it is disadvantageous that in practice the unsym-metrical construction may cause considerable sealing problems if mounted wrongly.
For a connection between a corrugated pipe and pipe socket, a sealing ring acting as compression seal is known from DE 36 05 330 C2 which sealing ring has two basic bodies connected with each other which bodies are inserted into two adjacent annular grooves between corrugation sections wherein a sealing bead is formed fitting close to the inside wall of the socket.
It is an object of the invention to form a sealing ring of the appropriate type so that in case of a particularly high sealing capacity even larger manufacturing tolerances, especially with respect to large pipes, can be compensated.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved in that said sealing bead has a central annular bead and on both sides one annular collar, respectively, projecting outwardly and laterally, and in that said sealing bead is capable of being rolled in or over in said pushing direction while elastically deforming said basic body, so that the annular collar located upstream in said pushing direction and said annular bead bear against said inside wall. Due to the construction of the sealing bead and its extreme deformability, relatively large diameter tolerances between the outer diameter of the spigot and the inner diameter of the pipe socket can be compensated while at the same time ensuring a media-tight connection, in particular an absolutely secure sealing against liquid leakage. This may be of importance in protected water areas, in the wastewater sector and the like.
Further features, advantages and detail of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of an exemplary embodiment, taken in conjunction with the drawing.